Inland Waterways Authority of India raises Rs 660 crore through bonds

The proceeds are intended to be used to develop the National Waterways during 2017-18

In line with the Union government’s thrust on fund raising by tapping the capital markets, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) on Friday announced it has raised Rs 660 crore through bonds.

This would be the second department under Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to raise finances via the capital market, during the current fiscal, after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) raised Rs 3,000 crore worth of masala bonds at the London Stock Exchange in May this year.

The resources raised by IWAI way of these fully-serviced government bonds will be in addition to the budgetary support from the central government, which had enabled IWAI to raise Rs 660 crore through this instrument.

The IWAI had engaged arrangers, credit rating agencies – CRISIL and CARE, registrars and trustees prior to raising the bonds.

The e-bidding for raising the bonds was organized on October 11, 2017 on the BSE Portal with the issue size of Rs 300 crore and green shoe option of Rs 360 crore. The issue was oversubscribed and the entire amount of Rs 660 crore has been raised in single tranche at a coupon rate of 7.47 percent.

The proceeds from the bonds are intended to be utilized by IWAI exclusively for capital expenditure for development of National Waterways (NWs) under National Waterway Act, 2016 during 2017-18. The interest payment will be on semi-annual basis and the principal on maturity.

Meanwhile, Gadkari has said that the central government might decide to list NHAI on the stock exchanges, as a way to bypass the need for bank funding. The minister had said that the process of NHAI initial public offering had begun.